Accentuate the Positive
by LuckyLadybug
Summary: NegaDuck has a lil accident . . .


Darkwing Duck  
Accentuate the Positive  
By Lucky_Ladybug  
  
  
NegaDuck walked around the top secret laser weapon that Darkwing had just received from SHUSH. He had found out that his do-gooder double was going to get it, and when Darkwing had left SHUSH with it, NegaDuck had secretly followed him. He had seen Darkwing drive up the Audobon Bay Bridge on the Ratcatcher and then had waited for the crime-fighter to leave his hideout. As soon as night fell, he did, and NegaDuck saw his perfect chance to sneak in.  
  
He climbed up the bridge slowly and carefully, muttering to himself. When he finally reached the top, he climbed up through the window.  
  
And now he was inspecting this new weapon thoughtfully. "Now, where's the instruction booklet?" he mused.  
  
He found it laying to the side, discarded. He chuckled. "Darkwing never does read the instructions!" He glanced up at the machine and paused. "Then again, why should I, either? I should be able to figure this thing out." He climbed up on the weapon to look over the control panel.  
  
Suddenly he heard a familiar voice—all too familiar.  
  
"Hold it right there!"  
  
NegaDuck froze. He slowly turned around. Darkwing Duck was standing over some kind of trap door, glaring at his arch-enemy.  
  
"Well, if it isn't the daring duck of mystery, Darkwing Duck!" NegaDuck remarked sarcastically.  
  
"It's a good thing I remembered I'd forgotten my gas gun cartridges," Darkwing said angrily. "How did you get in?"  
  
NegaDuck shrugged and didn't answer.  
"Oh, never mind!" Darkwing snapped. "Just . . . just . . . get down from there before you cause some trouble!"  
  
NegaDuck only laughed. "As soon as I figure out how to work this thing, I'm taking it with me. Do you know what I could do with something like this . . .?" He reached for a switch on the control panel.  
  
Darkwing sprang forward, tackling NegaDuck and throwing him off the laser machine. As he did so, he accidentally knocked against the control panel and it started up. "Uh oh," Darkwing gulped.  
  
NegaDuck yelped as a sudden light engulfed him and sent him flying backwards.  
  
Darkwing frantically pushed all the buttons. "How do you turn this thing off?" he exclaimed.  
  
The force of the laser beam, meanwhile, had sent poor NegaDuck down the long flight of stairs. Darkwing winced as he heard a loud CRASH!, just as he managed to turn the laser machine off.  
  
Darkwing cautiously went over to the top of the stairs and looked down. He couldn't see anything. Armed with his gas gun, he headed down the stairs, looking about furtively.  
  
When he reached the bottom, he again looked around. NegaDuck was nowhere in sight. Darkwing glared at the air suspiciously. "If this is some kind of trick, NegaDuck, I'm not falling for it!"  
  
Then he noticed a fallen stack of empty crates which had contained previous weapons from SHUSH. Was that a hand hanging out limply from the bottom one?  
  
Darkwing set down his gas gun—he hardly thought he'd need it—and went over to the crates. He threw them away, one by one, until he'd uncovered NegaDuck at the bottom, limp and lifeless.  
  
"This had better not be a trick to get the drop on me," Darkwing muttered, dropping to his knees next to his arch-enemy. He shook NegaDuck hard on the shoulder. The other duck didn't respond.  
  
Darkwing sighed, shaking his head. After being hit by a laser beam, falling down a long flight of stairs, and then crashing into a bunch of crates, it wasn't likely that NegaDuck was still alive. The laser alone was deadly.  
  
"Well, that's what you get for trying to steal a top-secret weapon," Darkwing said.  
****  
As Darkwing was standing there looking over NegaDuck, the motionless duck's eyes suddenly flew open and he stared at Darkwing blankly.  
  
"So, you're still alive," Darkwing said, surprised.  
  
NegaDuck slowly stood up, looking a little surprised himself. "I am, aren't I?" he mused. Suddenly he sprang forward and gave Darkwing a hug. "It's a beautiful day to be alive, ol' pal!" he exclaimed.  
  
Darkwing was, to put it mildly, beside himself with confusion as he tried to pull away from NegaDuck's embrace. "What is with you?" he demanded. "That laser beam must've scrambled your brain!"  
  
NegaDuck stared at Darkwing, puzzled. "What laser beam?"  
  
"The one in the machine you were trying to steal," Darkwing replied.  
  
NegaDuck looked horrified. "What? I would never steal something!" He paused. "That wouldn't be very nice!"  
  
Darkwing just stared at NegaDuck, dumbfounded.  
  
"Besides," NegaDuck went on, "even if I did want to steal it, what use would I have for a top-secret weapon like that?"  
  
"I suppose to get a lot of wealth and power," Darkwing replied.  
  
NegaDuck crossed his arms and looked at Darkwing skeptically. "And why would I want any of that? Money isn't everything!"  
  
Just then Gosalyn's voice wafted down to them. "Hi, Dad! What's up?" She stopped abruptly as she saw that Darkwing wasn't alone. "NegaDuck?" she gasped. "Who, where, why, how??"  
NegaDuck turned to face Darkwing's daughter. "Gossie!" he exclaimed. "Sweetie! Did you have a good day at school? I bet you'd like something to eat!" he added in a real cutesy voice.  
  
Gosalyn turned to Darkwing. "Dad," she said emphatically, "what's going on here??"  
  
Darkwing leaned against the banister. "NegaDuck has just lost his mind," he declared.  
  
"NegaDuck?" Darkwing's arch-enemy waved his hands in protest. "Oh no! My name is Posiduck!"  
****  
Darkwing leaned against his bedroom door and sighed. It had been a long night. He had decided to keep NegaDuck at the tower overnight and observe him without him knowing he was being observed, just in case this was an elaborate plan to catch the daring duck off guard. But all NegaDuck had done was wander around the tower, picking up the mess the laser machine had left and singing "Whistle While You Work."  
  
Darkwing plopped into bed, muttering to himself. Before long, he was sound asleep.  
  
And before long, the phone rang. Darkwing, half-asleep, reached for what he thought was the phone. "Hello," he mumbled. When he continued to hear a ring, he opened his eyes more fully. He was holding his hat. Grumbling, he picked up the real phone.  
  
"Hi, ol' pal!" NegaDuck's voice came through the receiver.  
  
"Yeah, NegaDuck," Darkwing mumbled.  
  
"Posiduck!"  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"I just called to tell you that I applied for membership in the Cute Little Lost Bunnies fanclub!" NegaDuck exclaimed.  
  
"Really? That's nice," Darkwing said, not really paying attention.  
  
There was a long silence. Finally NegaDuck said worriedly, "I didn't wake you up, did I?"  
  
"Uh, well, actually . . ."  
  
"Oh, silly me! I forgot that you work nights, so naturally you're sleeping during the day. I'm so sorry, Darkwing! Please accept my sincerest apologies!" Quickly NegaDuck hung up.  
  
Darkwing sank back into bed. "You know, I could've sworn he said he had applied for membership in the Cute Little Lost Bunnies fan club," he mumbled.  
****  
That afternoon, Gosalyn and Honker were walking home from school.  
  
"You wouldn't believe what's happened to NegaDuck, Honk," Gosalyn said.  
  
"What happened to him?" Honker asked.  
  
Before Gosalyn could answer, they passed by the local Hallmark store. "Hey! There's NegaDuck in there!"  
  
"In the Hallmark store?" Honker went up to the window. "Is he robbing it?"  
  
"No," Gosalyn replied. "He's . . . he's . . . buying cards!"  
  
NegaDuck came out of the store. "Why, hello, kids! Gossie . . . Honker . . . Say, if you need any Valentine's Day cards, Hallmark has them on discount prices, since it's June."  
  
Even with what NegaDuck had said and done last night, this was a bit much. Gosalyn just stared at him. Honker was totally dumbfounded. "You bought Valentine's Day cards?" Gosalyn said incredulously.  
  
"Oh yes! I'm going to send them to everyone just because they're special!" NegaDuck clasped his hands together and looked positively angelic. "Toodleoo!" He danced down the street.  
  
Gosalyn turned to Honker. "See what I mean? Totally quacked!"  
  
"Um, what happened to him?" Honker asked.  
  
"I don't know the full story, but it was something to do with a laser machine," Gosalyn replied.  
****  
That evening, just after dinner, an urgent knock came at the front door of the Mallard house.  
  
"Gee, I wonder who that could be," Launchpad mused.  
  
Darkwing went over and opened the door, praying it wasn't the Muddlefoots.  
  
"Darkwing! Ol' pal!" NegaDuck exclaimed, prancing in.  
  
Darkwing and Launchpad just stared at him. He was wearing a hot pink jacket with a matching hat and cape.  
  
"I decided that hot pink looks much better on me than red, black, and yellow," NegaDuck explained.  
  
"Uh, yeah . . . hot pink . . . sure . . ." Darkwing said, not quite sure *what* to say.  
  
NegaDuck held up a video. "I just rented this. I thought maybe Gosalyn would like to see it."  
  
Launchpad took the rental case and looked at the title. "Bambi? Oh, gosh, I haven't seen this movie since I was a kid!"  
  
"Bambi?" Darkwing repeated. That laser had cracked NegaDuck up worse than he'd thought!  
  
"Gosalyn's off at hockey practice, but I wouldn't mind seeing this movie again," Launchpad said, plopping down on the couch in front of the TV.  
  
"Great! I've never seen it before, but I saw it in the video store and I couldn't resist renting it!" NegaDuck said, slipping the tape into the VCR. "Do you want to watch, Darkwing, ol' pal?"  
  
Struggling to be polite, Darkwing replied, "Thanks for the offer, but I need to check on some things at Darkwing Tower before I go out to fight crime tonight." In a flash, he jumped into one of the blue chairs and pressed Basil's head. Instantly he was gone.  
  
About forty or minutes later, Darkwing was back. He had forgotten to get the rest of his gas gun cartridges. He became aware of a loud wailing sound. I imagine that's Launchpad, crying at the scene where Bambi's mother is killed, he thought.  
  
As he went over to the closet to get them, he stopped short, totally flabbergasted. Launchpad and NegaDuck were crying in each other's arms. Finally Launchpad sniffed and said, "I'd better get more Kleenex." He wiped his eyes, and NegaDuck inadvertently grabbed one of the couch cushions to cry into.  
  
Darkwing shook his head. "As long as I live, nothing will ever surprise me again!"  
****  
That night, Darkwing and Launchpad had just started out when Launchpad said, "DW, can we stop for a Hippoburger?"  
  
"What?" Darkwing said, exasperated. "You just had dinner!"  
  
"That was almost four hours ago," Launchpad protested. "I'm a growing boy, DW!"  
  
Darkwing heaved a big sigh. "Oh, alright! But only because I know you'll never be able to concentrate on fighting crime otherwise!"  
  
They pulled into the Hungry Hippo. As Launchpad gave the man his order, Darkwing idly listened to the radio. A song was just coming to an end, and the radio show hostess was just taking a call.  
  
"I would like to make a dedication to a very special friend," the voice said.  
  
Darkwing froze. No, no, it couldn't be . . .  
  
"This is Posiduck, and I would like to dedicate the song 'The Wind Beneath My Wings' to Darkwing Duck. He's been my inspiration and made me what I am."  
  
Launchpad had turned to stare at the radio himself. "Gosh, DW, isn't that . . ."  
  
"I was wrong," Darkwing interrupted, talking to himself. "This definitely surprises me. No, surprise isn't the word for it. It stuns me senseless!" Darkwing stared off into space.  
****  
NegaDuck was back at his place, unrolling a poster of NSync and tacking it to the wall.  
"Hmm, not a bad band," he mused, slipping one of their CDS into the CD player. "Gosalyn has good taste in music!"  
  
As the first song started, NegaDuck quickly turned down the volume. It was up a little too loud for this time of night. "Don't want to wake the neighbors," he said.  
  
He grabbed a mannequin and danced around with it to the song.  
  
As he twirled and whirled, he suddenly tripped over a paddleball on the floor and went flying over his desk, hitting his head as he crashed into the wall.  
  
I hope the crash didn't wake anyone, was his last thought before blacking out.  
****  
NegaDuck regained consciousness slowly. He realized he was laying on a couch, with what felt like an ice pack on his head. As his memory slowly returned, one horrifying thought stood out from all the others—Posiduck! He had become some kind of do-gooder duck, whose best friend was Darkwing Duck!  
  
He managed to pry his eyes open. Darkwing Tower? How had he gotten there?  
  
"Hey, DW, he's awake," Launchpad called.  
  
What's going on here? NegaDuck screamed in his mind.  
  
Darkwing came over. Folding his arms, he looked at NegaDuck and remarked, "You're quite a fighter, NegaDuck."  
  
"Yeah, we all thought you were dead," Launchpad added.  
  
NegaDuck slowly sat up. "Oh, you did, huh?" He hadn't hit the wall that hard . . . had he?  
  
"Yeah, DW said you got hit with that laser," Launchpad replied.  
  
Laser? Oh yeah . . . it was coming back to him. But did that mean that the Posiduck thing was just a nightmare?  
  
"How long have I been out?" NegaDuck asked.  
  
Darkwing checked his watch. "Three hours." He was staying on his guard. NegaDuck didn't seem very threatening right now, but that guy was unpredictable.  
  
NegaDuck stared at the laser machine thoughtfully. Darkwing reached for his gas gun. "I suppose you're going to try to steal the laser machine again."  
  
NegaDuck looked the machine up and down. He had been considering it. . . . The Posiduck thing had just been a nightmare, but. . . . What if he had another accident with the machine and something like that really did happen? Perish the thought!  
  
NegaDuck backed away from the machine. "Actually, Darkwing, I think I'll leave this one be." And with that, he was gone.  
  
Darkwing and Launchpad watched him descend the bridge and flee into the shadows. Then they turned to each other and shrugged. Darkwing was right—NegaDuck was unpredictable . . . very unpredictable.  
  
  
  
  
Well, did you like it?? Please review! :)   
  
I'd like to give a special thanx to Jade, whose hilarious "Top Ten Signs that NegaDuck has Lost His Mind" list inspired this story! :) And, without further ado, the list!  
  
10)HE TELLS YOU, MONEY ISN'T EVERYTHING.  
  
9)HE GIVES UP HIS LIFE OF CRIME TO BECOME A PRIEST.  
  
8)YOU CATCH HIM IN A HALLMARK STORE, BUYING VALENTINE CARDS FOR THE OTHER FOUR MEMBERS OF THE FEARSOME FIVE.  
  
7)HE ASKS YOU IF HIS OUTFIT MAKES HIM LOOK FAT.  
  
6)HE GETS A MEMBERSHIP TO THE CUTE LITTLE LOST BUNNIES FAN CLUB.  
  
5)HE DECORATES HIS HIDEOUT WITH NSYNC POSTERS.  
  
4)HE CRIES WHILE WATCHING BAMBI.  
  
3)HE WATCHES BAMBI.  
  
2)HE DECIDES, YELLOW, RED AND, BLACK LOOK HORRIBLE ON HIM. HOT PINK IS MUCH MORE BECOMING.  
  
AND THE NUMBER ONE SIGN NEGADUCK HAS LOST HIS MIND!!!  
  
1)HE CALLS A RADIO STATION AND DEDICATES, WIND BENEATH MY WINGS TO DARKWING DUCK.  
  
I know I missed a couple in my story, but I got to almost all of 'em ^_^   
  
The above list is copyrighted by Jade. This story is copyrighted by me, but the characters, of course, are not. 


End file.
